Hello. I am thinking of using a Puppy Linux derivative with the Enchance Motor Controller software and perhaps Orocos installed. Any thoughts on this idea as a way to control the three electric motors I intend to install? My primary concern is control of the two drive motors. The neck motor is really an extraneous device for asthetic purposes (if I can figure out how to program some rudimentary behaviour to look left or right). I figure that I can simply use the build in pdq print server for the small printer (may take some tweaking).

Any rate, I would love some thoughts and opinions on this. If somebody has a been idea, I'd like to hear it. Thank you.

Seems Interesting. I saw this Orocos thing a while back before anything had really been done on it. It's definatly shaping up to be a winner in terms of Industry Automation and robotics. Thanks for reminding me about it.

I couldn't find a link for this Enchance Motor Controller software... So I can't really comment there...But I think you will still need some kind of Interface electronics to actually drive the motors or servos...

True, you would need at least an H-bridge control circuit. To the best of my knowledge (which is limited at best) there is no way to directly connect an electric motor of any type to a computer and have it work. As for the Enhanced Motor Controller, you can find it at:

Incidentally, there is already a Ubuntu version. The Unbuntu version uses the newer program. There is a Puppy Linux version, but it uses a considerably older version of the Enhanced Machine Controller. It can be found at:

My plan is to compile the newer version of EMC to run on a newer version of Puppy and also to include Orocos with it. I am also considering http://nico.nikkostrom.com/. Yes, this will be a more robust setup than what can already be downloaded, but it may hold a lot of potential. I will be working on this over the next several weeks. I will post about it both here and at http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/index.php in the "Truly Off Topic Conversations" area and also in the derivatives area once this Puppy Linux project is done and working. It will likely be based upon one of three versions of Puppy, they are 2.17, 3.01, or 4.01. I don't know yet which one. Time will tell.